European Union - Adjusted savings: particulate emission damage (% of GNI)

Adjusted savings: particulate emission damage (% of GNI) in European Union was 0.058 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 29 years was 0.154 in 1990, while its lowest value was 0.057 in 2017.

Definition: Particulate emissions damage is the damage due to exposure of a country's population to ambient concentrations of particulates measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5), ambient ozone pollution, and indoor concentrations of PM2.5 in households cooking with solid fuels. Damages are calculated as foregone labor income due to premature death. Estimates of health impacts from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Data for other years have been extrapolated from trends in mortality rates.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018: Building a Sustainable Future" (Lange et al 2018).

See also:

Year Value
1990 0.154
1991 0.148
1992 0.138
1993 0.136
1994 0.127
1995 0.122
1996 0.116
1997 0.111
1998 0.106
1999 0.100
2000 0.095
2001 0.093
2002 0.091
2003 0.087
2004 0.083
2005 0.082
2006 0.079
2007 0.079
2008 0.080
2009 0.081
2010 0.078
2011 0.075
2012 0.073
2013 0.070
2014 0.066
2015 0.063
2016 0.059
2017 0.057
2018 0.058
2019 0.058

Development Relevance: Air pollution places a major burden on world health. In many places, including cities but also nearby rural areas, exposure to air pollution exposure is the main environmental threat to health. Long-term exposure to high levels of fine particulates in the air contributes to a range of health effects, including respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and heart disease, resulting in 3.2 million deaths annually according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study. Not only does exposure to air pollution affect the health of the world’s people, it also carries huge economic costs and represents a drag on development, particularly for low and middle income countries and vulnerable segments of the population such as children and the elderly.

Limitations and Exceptions: Labor productivity losses, as calculated within the framework of adjusted net savings, represent only part of the economic costs of air pollution and should be interpreted as a lower-end estimate.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Within the national accounting framework, air pollution damages are estimated following a human capital approach. Damages from premature mortality are calculated as the present value of lost income during working age, 15-64. Premature mortality among children is valued by adjusting for years until working age and discounting more heavily into the future. Estimates are for both urban and rural areas. Exposure to household air pollution is proxied by the number of households in each country cooking with solid fuels.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt Indicators

Sub-Topic: National accounts